Amazing Stories , the
magazine of scientification , was the first
publication dedicated solely to the science fiction genre. The magazine was
founded in 1926 by Hugo Gernsback, widely
acknowledged as the father of science fiction-the genre's prestigious Hugo
Award was named for him.

The
magazine started as a bedsheet sized pulp issued
every month by Gernsbacks Experimenter Publishing
Company. It was the fiction
companion to Science and Invention which was closer to Popular Science
published today.

Gernsback encountered financial difficulties in
1929 and lost control of the company. The magazine went through a succession
of editors and owners. In 1933,
the magazine changed to standard pulp format. It was sold to Ziff-Davis in
1939 who installed Ray Palmer as editor.

Palmer adopted a different editorial philosophy, and abandoned the
scientific fidelity strived for by Gernsback, and
enforced by Campbell who took over Astounding at about the same time.
Palmer emphasized science adventure,
and produced stories on the cheap by employing a stable of writers.

The magazine changed to digest format in 1953 and after several name
changes, settled on Amazing Science Fiction Stories. The 1960s was a
confusing period when the magazine reverted mostly to reprints, and had a succession of
editors, including Joseph Ross, Harrison, Silverberg, Maltzberg
and others.

Early Amazing Stories used a large number of reprints by venerable writers
such as Verne and Wells. In the
late 1920s, enough writers migrated to the genre that mostly original stories
were published. A Merritt, Murray
Leinster, and Jack Williamson were early contributors, with
Williamsons first sale made to Amazing. Frank Paul produced distinctive artwork
for many early covers, and continued with back covers well into the 1940s.